The Machine
The Machine is a computer system built and designed by Harold Finch and Nathan Ingram for the United States government. Currently owned by the U.S. government, the Machine analyzes feeds from domestic organizations such as the National Security Administration, and foreign entities including Interpol to predict terrorist attacks and modify intelligence reports to include "relevant" data that will allow the government to forestall terrorist activity. Combined with data collected from various other sources, such as video footage, phone calls (landline, VOIP, mobile), GPS, electronic transactions, e-mails and other social media it is able to accurately predict violent acts without anyone knowing about its existence. Development After 9/11, Congress created the cabinet-level U.S. Department of Homeland Security via the Partriot Act giving DHS and its affiliated agencies the right to read emails and monitor phone calls. To handled the data, they needed a computer system that could scan through all the information and identify terrorists before they could act. After trials with projects like Trailblazer, TIA, and Stellar Wind were unsuccessful, the Machine was commissioned. Development was handed over to Nathan Ingram's company ITF. When the Machine was completed, Ingram sold it to the government for $1. The Machine went online on February 24, 2005. Classification of Data The Machine sorts through all available information and categorizes persons of interest into relevant (terrorism) and irrelevant (everything else) cases. When a relevant threat has been identified, the information will be forwarded to the NSA or the FBI , without leaving any indication where the information originated. Every night at midnight, the Machine erases the list of irrelevant cases, for example violent crimes, domestic violence or other premeditated acts that do not threaten national security. Finch later realizes that the irrelevant list includes people about to be involved in bad situations, which he later comes to believe was just as important as the "relevant" list. Finch therefore utilizes the back door to the Machine (put in place by Nathan Ingram) in order to access the irrelevant list. Access The location of the Machine remains unknown. After it was handed over to the government, it was shipped from Des Moines, Iowa to Salt Lake City, Utah. Finch stated on several occasions that he has no way of accessing the Machine, and that he also doesn’t know where it is stored. According to Finch, the Machine has been coded so that it cannot be accessed in any way. It is able to update, maintain, and repair itself. The Machine also deletes its memory every night at midnight, then restarts and rebuilds itself. Because of this, it has no stored memory other than its basic programming and only has a database to process. To work around this problem, the Machine established the false human identity Ernest Thornhill, a technology billionaire. Using this identity, it set up a company and hired employees to reenter the coded memories it prints out each night. It also had Ernest Thornhill buy pay phone companies all over New York City. Assessment In Artificial intelligence (AI) it is known as "Machine Learning". Communication The Machine uses the Dewey Decimal System to communicate new Social Security numbers. Whenever it identifies a person of interest, the information is relayed to Finch by phone (call or text message). He uses a public pay phone to receive the call numbers of books that are cataloged by the DDS. Combining their DDS numbers allows him to put together the SSN. Dewey2.jpg|Books with the call signs Family/Alpha, Mike Uncertainty/Romeo, Kilo Reflections/ Juliet, Oscar SSN.jpg|... form the Social Security Number for Leon Tao The Machine contacts Finch when it perceives a threat regarded as "irrelevant" yet imminent. It is yet unclear to what extent the Machine is self-aware or sentient and how far Finch is able to control it. Flashbacks indicate that the Machine once took an active interest in safeguarding Finch, but he has since set limits on such conduct. Finch himself is adamant that the Machine have no form of remote access, as it could be used by a hacker to gain control. Under certain circumstances, it appears to be possible for the system administrator (Finch) or a recognized asset (Reese) to communicate with the Machine by talking into any security or traffic camera. , The Machine flashes a red light to indicate that it is processing and recording the request. Contingency The "Contingency" routine is an additional function added by Nathan Ingram just before the Machine was shut down and packed for transport. Unknown to Finch, Ingram apparently created this function to gain access to those numbers that were sorted out as non-relevant. Shortly after the Machine left IFT, the contingency function sent the first irrelevant number to Ingram. Finch found out about the contigency in 2010 (Day 3178). When confronted by Finch, Ingram admitted that he received numbers from the Machine and had already saved 5 people. Finch insisted that they should not play God and tried to delete contigency. However, this wasn't possible, so he at least suspended it. Virus Following orders from a mysterious third party, Kara Stanton uploads a virus onto the Internet which initially seems to affect the Machine in such a way that it fails to send new numbers to Finch in time. Finch monitors the progress over time, as he tries to trace it. Eventually, it becomes apparent the Machine's output is becoming erratic, and in time, that numbers are being delayed. The delayed generation of numbers leads to the deaths of Cal Beecher, Bill Szymanski‎‎ and Dr. Richard Nelson, which, along with the increasing flashes of coded blue screen, suggest that the Machine may be failing. As Zero Day for the virus approaches, The Machine stops issuing numbers, leading to a sharp increase in successful premeditated homicides within the city. Glitches Over the course of In Extremis, the machine experiences a number of glitches as blue screens constantly interrupt its perspective on video feeds. As they break down, the monitoring boxes begin to dance across the screen and disappear as the picture degrades. Finally, the Machine displays a a red coded screen stating that signal is corrupted, followed by a series of messages, each originally desolving from western to Greek characters: MAJOR ERRORS ENCOUNTERED: Feed analysis suspended Threat detection suspended Data corruption: 86.914% As the red screen begins to fade away, it displays: Fatal error Operations compromised Heuristics offline Finally, the text, then screen go red as it displays: Threat to system ' '''Threat to system ' '''Threat to system Primary operations shutting down At the end of the episode, the Machine's primary functions have shut down. In the following episode , it is revealed that neither the government nor Finch have received any number for 10 days. However, it appears that the Machine is still generating the irrelevant list, as it tries to contact Finch after finding out that Carter may be in danger. The Machine also sends Finch the Social Security number of its fake human identity, Ernest Thornhill, thus revealing its daily activities to reenter memories. Vlcsnap-2013-04-28-02h06m03s182.png|Data corruption Vlcsnap-2013-04-28-02h06m11s5.png|Heuristics offline Vlcsnap-2013-04-28-02h07m12s101.png|Primary operations shutting down Debug Mode The true nature of the virus is to crush the Machine with false data and trigger a hard reset, after which the Machine calls a payphone located in the New York Public Library. During the reboot process, The Machine displays binary machine language code that translates to Latin "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" or "Who will watch the watchmen?" The person who answers The Machine's call is expected to have full admin access to the Machine for 24 hours, which Root refers to as "God Mode". After Finch makes sure Reese and Root both get the call, The Machine immediately gives instruction to both Reese and Root to avoid agents waiting in the library. It is still unknown what happens after the 24 hours is up. Person.of.interest.221 snapshot 42.26.jpg|Initiating system shut down Person.of.interest.221 snapshot 42.34.jpg|System reboot Person.of.interest.221 snapshot 42.40.jpg|Seeking ADMIN Screenshot zero day binary.png|Binary code People who know about the Machine By the time of its creation officially seven people knew about the Machine. Except for Ingram, nobody else knew of Finch also being involved, therefore, in fact eight people were aware of its existence. *Nathan Ingram *Harold Finch *Alicia Corwin *Denton Weeks *Special Counsel Others came to know about the Machine later: *John Reese (learned about the Machine when be began working with Finch.) , *Henry Peck (realized the Machine had been built, later confirmed by Finch. ) *Root (learned about the Machine at an indeterminant point in time, and has made it her mission to "set it free".) In addition, Daniel Aquino, who built the housing for the Machine, had some knowledge of it, however, it is not known whether he was one of the original eight, or if he was told about the Machine some time later. Colored boxes and symbols People The Machine applies different colored boxes in order to categorize the people it observes. Boxes can change as the Machine re-evaluates its assessment of the individuals it monitors. (white because he doesn't know about the Machine) and Reese (yellow because he knows) turn red after the Machine learns that they were investigating Finch. ]] Watercraft and aircraft The Machine also categorizes and marks watercraft and aircraft. Boats, ships and ferries are assigned a white diamond while airplanes and helicopters receive a green triangle along with flight number and airport codes. Wheeled vehicles (such as cars, trucks and busses) are coded based on status of individual passengers within. Exclusion zones The Machine monitors areas around potential terrorist targets, such as sky lanes, shipping lanes, and major railroads. Exclusion zones are coded in white or red, which may represent a threat appraisal, or the value of the target. Trivia *The extent of Nathan Ingram's contingency protocol inside the Machine is unknown. During Finch's absence the Machine tasked Reese with the job of searching and protecting the numbers that came up, thus implying that Reese or any immediate asset are part of that contingency. *In , the Machine is referred to as "Research" by Samantha Shaw and Michael Cole, as it provides them the SSNs from the relevant list. However, in the first encounter between Shaw and Finch, she is informed by Finch that "Research" is non-existent but full of secrecy, but that ultimately they both work for the same entity. Notes *The producers' commentary on the Season 1 DVD confirms that in flashbacks, the Machine reviews old footage in the present, meaning that it assigns the colored squares according to what it knows about the characters in the current timeline. Therefore, the yellow square it assigned Reese in various flashbacks before Finch told him about the Machine may only indicate that the Machine uses a present day indicator, not that Reese knew about the Machine before meeting Finch. External links *Technologies and Analyses in CBS’ Person of Interest *The Machine is real es:La máquina Machine Machine